Most voters are like my family and friends: We are disgusted to the point of nausea with the bombardment of TV, web advertising and mail advertising that is being thrown at us. Most of it is negative, taking small sound bites from their opponents’ many hours of public speaking to make them appear as radical politicians.

The races for national office have far-reaching implications, ranging from Supreme Court justice selection to issues such as building our military, defending our country and making Social Security a stable retirement program that we have worked our whole lives and paid for with our tax contributions.

Here in the 25th Congressional District, we have a number of important races for offices that really will impact us locally. When we elect a congressman in our 25th District, we are electing the person who will represent us in Washington and will make a difference for our future and the future of our country.

If Washington is broken, consider what you like least about Washington. Things like the representatives not listening to us and not getting anything done to help our district or protect us from a world that seems to be getting more scary all the time.

We are faced with two very different kinds of candidates with two distinct visions for the future of our area and nation.

Defending his seat is Republican Rep. Steve Knight. Steve is an Army veteran, retired LAPD officer and former representative for this area in the State Assembly and State Senate. He knows our issues, and he has a long track record of getting things done for us and our country.

Challenging him is Democratic lawyer Bryan Caforio. After doing my own research and seeing the campaigns from both sides, I have to say: I stand with Congressman Knight.

After watching a few of the debates between the two candidates, I must commend Caforio. He is clearly a talented speaker and very articulate. He has spent years arguing in court as a trial lawyer. Despite his ability to inject flair into his speeches, I actually found myself incredibly underwhelmed and uninspired. While he did an excellent job espousing standard Democrat talking points and one-liners, he just has no knowledge of the issues in our district or our needs from Washington.

Much has been made of Caforio’s new-coming to the area, and rightfully so. Someone who buys a fancy new house in Los Angeles, yet registers to vote in Santa Clarita two weeks before announcing his candidacy for Congress should raise some serious red flags with voters.

Steve Knight is the complete opposite. Born and raised here, Knight has gone out of his way to stay connected with businesses and individuals in our community, remaining on top of local priorities.

Steve has been a regular sight at veterans’ events, small businesses and other community gatherings throughout his first term in Congress. Steve understands that in this community, we care about the economy, jobs and national security; and that’s exactly what he works on every day in Washington and California.

Even before his political career has started, Bryan Caforio already represents everything that is wrong with our political system. He and the Democrats think they can para-drop a candidate into our community and buy the election with more than $4 million in outside cash. Voters in the 25th District should be insulted by this lack of respect. This is probably why several prominent local Democrats like Lou Vince and Oscar Mejia have actually come out in support for Rep. Knight; they know local leadership and commitment to the community is vastly more important than partisan politics.

This really is a critical election, and Steve Knight is not a tool to be used by those sending all of this political money into our district. How about we stand up and let those outsiders know we are sending Steve Knight back with overwhelming support?

Marty Kreisler is a Castaic resident.

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As a woman, and someone who has seen the Confederate Wing of the Republican party deny women equal rights,
especially for birth control, I feel Knight is sexist.
I can’t vote for him anymore. He can have any religious beliefs he wants, but he should not be so full of his own virtue that he thinks he should be able to deny me my right to choose.

I believe any individual, politician or not, has a Constitutional right to holdfast to their religious beliefs. Knight has stated he is not trying to take away or deny our healthcare rights. He isn’t trying to change the law about our right to our personal health choices. He just personally is pro-life.

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